Guild Wars Locus ut Sileo
by Conahan
Summary: The last 4 members of the Locus ut Sileo guild try all they can to avoid their attackers... Follow these brave men in their quest for freedom and the rest they so long deserved.
1. Chapter One: Our Hearts Still Burn

Chapter One – _"Our Hearts Still Burn"_

The Hall that stood so glorious once with its thick walls and high towers, set in the pale moonlight. "I remember it as if it was yesterday, the fires, clashing of blades, screams of the fallen, they echo in my head still" John kneeled on the blackened ground, new life shot from the ashes that where left. John picked up a burned plaque of some sort inscribed with the old words of the fallen Guild's motto "Illi Quisnam Mos Haud Diutius". "We all remember John" Aeolus reacted, he looked around and could still see how this, now blackened and crippled, Hall stood tall in the summer rain, and a beautiful sight it was. His bird, which he had tamed so long ago, walked closer to the ranger and looked at him, as if he wanted to ask what was wrong. Aeolus put his hand on the Moa's head and shook his head "You wouldn't understand".

The four friends had returned to the place where it all began, or ended for that matter. Sick of the war, the hatred and the killing they all left their old guild to join the ranks of LuS, to get away from it all. Little did they know that by doing this they would be witnesses of hatred and death in its darkest form.

Radeon walked around kicking away debris that lay shattered all over, he specialized in the art of death, but not like the death they had seen two years ago. He was a Necromancer, using the corpses of fallen foes to aid him and his friends in battle, after the battle however he released the souls letting them go to whatever heaven they believed in. "The souls are still restless" He said looking up the large centre tower, "They still can't believe what happened" he sighed and walked back to the rest of his friends who where now at the door of the only tower that still stood upright.

Phoenix hadn't said anything since returning here, after the Guild Wars and the invasion of the Charr he had grown more silent every day, remembering how it was and what it could become once again, perhaps. He sighed, "I wonder what is left" he spoke in an emotionless voice, he was an Elementalist who specialized himself in Fire magic, it was cruel faith that the same fire he wielded destroyed all he had. There was nothing he, or any other, could've done but the four remaining friends all felt the same, if only, if only they could've stopped this somehow.

But alas, no matter how much Radeon specialized in death he could not give back live, no matter what herbs Aeolus would know they had not the power to return the dead, no matter how much Phoenix tried he could not turn back the flames and no matter how angry John could get it would not be enough to defy the Gods. Together they stood strong, in peace and war time they survived, but all this didn't matter, they could not get back what was stolen from them two years ago. And although the fire in the Hall died out after 3 days the fire was still burning their hearts away after two years.

They Pushed the doors aside and John was the first to enter, still smelling the dried out flames as they walked through the black corridors, the flames had eaten all signs of live, banners, seats, clothes and flesh. "No wonder the dead can't find rest" Radeon said, "They are still burning". They all looked around as they entered the big hall, the meeting room, eating room, all in one, most of the time all at once as well. "Then let's extinguish the flames and give our comrades the rest they so long deserved" Phoenix said with a glow in his eyes, he had ploughed through books, one bigger then the other, about the Monk profession. He now knew how to keep the living alive and, perhaps more importantly, how to give the dead rest. "We should set up for the ritual here" he stated when he was in the centre off the hall, on the orange shining emblem of the Guild, which designated the spot to be the centre of the hall. He stomped his feet on the ground, "Right here".

Aeolus seemed a bit out of it, they had thought it was because of the overwhelming sight, but it was not the smell or the memory that occupied his mind, he heard something, a sound that was familiar and had become even more familiar the last few years. "To Arms!" he shouted immediately reaching for his bow and arrow. Without questioning Aeolus his motives the rest of the group leaped into battle positions. They had travelled so long and trusted each other blindly.

Even before Phoenix could throw an enchantment, he had just learned from a dusty old book, a gang of Gargoyles leaped around the corner. John dashed forward, his hammer in his two hands almost flying behind him, when coming to a full stop in front of the group he used his momentum to let the hammer sweep over his head into the skull of an oncoming gargoyle. Immediately dropping to the ground bleeding all over, but even before the corpse hit the ground a Bone Horror crawled out of the lifeless body, in a flash of an eye John looked over his shoulder and grinned at Radeon.

The skies rumbled, even in this closed room, it was Phoenix his doing, he was floating in mid air casting a storm of Flaming balls, they crashed right through the ceiling and landed on the group of foes, the skill Phoenix had gained in this allowed him to keep John out of harm's way. From the Burning corpses again sprung Horrors who, in any normal situation, wouldn't bare the daylight. Hideous creatures but effective in their own way. Arrows flew around John even before he could swing his hammer back and forth, some times even two at a time. Aeolus was a skilled marksman and John wasn't even remotely afraid he would be scratched by an arrow.

Then it hit John like a ton of bricks, his body hurt as he felt his life was drawn from him. It was an ancient Mesmer hex that was cast upon him, the Gargoyles grinned with their evil and misshapen faces as they saw John in torment. John recognized the pain, he had been through it a lot of times and one day decided to train himself so that he could resist them. With a loud roar he straightened up lifting his hands with the hammer, he shattered the hex as if it was a fragile piece of glass and the energy that blasted from him where like the shards, flying back at the attackers hitting every single one of them. Not quite dead yet an arrow flew over John's head and into the fallen Gargoyles, upon hitting them they exploded throwing John on the floor with the blast but also killing off any life that was left in the foes. Even before John hit the ground he felt some kind of divine energy flow through him patching up any wounds he might have suffered from that last arrow, Phoenix had done well by learning the ways of the monk.

It drew some energy from them but they survived another attack, as they did for the past two years, not living from day to day but from one attack to the other. But the rest would not be long, although the hunt for them officially stopped at the beginning of the Charr invasion the three, now merged, guilds still had some scouts following them and watching spots. They had hoped for a long time they would return to the Guild Hall, the four mates also knew this and they avoided the hall for a long time. But the blood crawls where it cannot and the friends had returned, one single watchman was still posted there to keep an eye out and now he had to run back to his home and warn the others.

While John, Aeolus, Radeon and Phoenix where just attacked by a second wave of Gargoyle he ran back, he was a young recruit, never knew what had happened in the Hall he was posted two weeks ago. He thought he did what was best, for him and his friends, he was told that whomever returned to that place and still bears sentiment for it was evil and dangerous. This was still the way the leaders thought about the guild, a danger, even after the death of almost all their members.

Phoenix was now meeting the necessary requirements for the ritual to put his fallen brothers to rest, to let their soul be rested. Radeon and Aeolus, who themselves had interested themselves in the restoring of life and holy magic as well, helped him with this, John however stood watch, knowing that, even at these times and in this place, they weren't save. Little did they know about the threat that was just awakened by one unknowing fool who would never have ran back if he knew the truth.

Phoenix unrolled a scroll, one he had bought with his last gold, he would have sold his arm if he didn't have enough money, he wanted to do this so badly. He started praying to Gods long gone, to deities long forgotten. Hoping that, somewhere in the emptiness that was heaven, there would be an ear, an ear that still listened. Aeolus and Radeon kneeling to his right and left side, hoping that with the three of them they had a better chance of success in this personal quest.

The boy had reached the outpost, and yelled over the top of his lunges "They Have returned! The survivors, they returned!", not mentioning any other names or details everybody knew what he meant and the captain of the outpost stepped forward, "Then we march out" he stated with a heavy voice. Every arms man and women cheered and grabbed for their closest weapon making haste towards the door.

Back at the burned hall the prayers where almost complete, like thunder a ray of light had cleaved itself through the ceiling and heavenly light now shone through. Radeon felt the anger and disbelieve about him flow away into the stream. Phoenix opened his eyes and looked up. "It is done, finally they can rest" he stated and rolled up the scroll to put it back in his bag. The light from the centre tower had startled the marching group of soldiers but they didn't back up, they marched on, still thinking that the four men in there where the biggest threat to their way of life, next to the Charr off course.

When the band reached the gates, and found a burned down hall at their feet, there was silence. The captain led the way and stepped inside, immediately triggering some trap that spew fire on him and the soldiers close to him, he screamed as he fell to the floor breathing out his last breath.

John suddenly shot up straight from the ground, he had sat down in the doorway, "They are here!" he shouted grabbing his hammer and running to his three friends, ready to defend them with his life. "We can count ourselves lucky that they still fall for my traps" Aeolus said with mixed feelings, he knew that the traps where the only way they could be safe, but he just killed a man, probably more then one, yet he was ready to fight another fight and loaded an arrow in his bow.

"It's no use" Phoenix stated, "No more blood should have been shed here" he quickly gathered all the remaining stuff from the ritual "Today we run" he added with his normal calm voice and ran off into the opposite direction then the front door. He had fled the tower the very same way two years ago, now he was running again, everything had changed, he had changed, his friends had changed, but one thing remained the same, their attackers. Although Radeon almost knew for sure the way Phoenix took led to a dead end he would still follow him, if Phoenix didn't lead them out they would at least be able to make a last stand, together. Aeolus put back his arrows and dashed off behind Phoenix.

"Go! I'll cover your back!" John shouted to Radeon, "Wait…" Radeon simply reacted, he put his hand toward the fallen Gargoyles they slew not so long ago, using the last bit of energy he had to summon an undead minion from all of them. "They will slow them down" he simply stated to John, and he ran off. John smirked, Radeon always knew what he was doing. "Stay here" John heard Radeon shouting to the minions, who now formed a line in front of John. John then realized it would be best to follow his friends into the dark corridor behind him.

Radeon his feeling was right, the way was blocked, that's if there ever was any. "Damn it!" Phoenix cursed out just when John rejoined them, "Do we have to fight after all" John stated clenching to his hammer grip. Aeolus looked around and saw what Phoenix had meant, there was some sort of hole, or at least had been. Only after the beatings the ceiling had taken several minutes ago it had collapsed blocking their only safe way out. Clashing of blades and screams of both disbelieve and pain notified the group that their attackers had reached the Bone minions Radeon had summoned.

Aeolus Drew an explosive arrow, "It's no use" Phoenix said trying to stop Aeolus, he didn't react, he looked a bit up and down and counted some stones then he stabbed the arrow somewhere in a gap. "Now stand back" he said loading a second explosive arrow, "What are you going to do?" John wondered out loud. "In a stack of stones these is always a keystone, make that one go away and the entire things collapses" Aeolus said right before he released his second arrow, which didn't only explode but also triggered the first one into blowing up the rubble. It wasn't the neatest way to make a door but it sure as hell was effective, "Right where I left it" Phoenix said when the smoke dissolved, he was talking about the hole in the side of the tower, he had made this hole two years ago trying to get away from the besiegers, he had run himself into a corner and had used a massive fireball to blow up a piece of his home.

The four friends ran outside trough the hole, the Moa bird was still standing outside, being able to fool the marching group into thinking she was a wild bird in stead of a trained and tamed one. Aeolus whistled and the Moa reacted with a quick dash in their direction. They slipped out of the Guild Hall through the back door, leaving it behind now forever, for it was not safe and their job was done, their fallen comrades had found peace in a heaven they didn't even think existed anymore.

After today the four last LuS members had realised once again that as long as they stood together they would be safe, not only in life but also in death. They looked back one more time, John sighed and Radeon saluted the souls of his brothers and sisters, who had fallen so many years ago. Aeolus fired one more arrow at the tower that had held them for so long, that they used to call home. The arrow buried himself in the side of the tower. Phoenix, however, didn't look back, he looked at the road ahead knowing that this was not the end, knowing that this was just a warming up for times to come.

The spirits in the hall no longer burned, the fire was extinguished by the divine powers of three of their own. The fires that destroyed the hall had gone out a long time ago, the fires that kept the restless souls alive died out just now, but nobody knew when the fire in the hearts of the four friends would die out, if it ever would at all, for their hearts still burned.


	2. Chapter Two: A Rainy Day

Chapter Two – _"A Rainy Day"_

A day like all the others, still walking away from it all. Hoping that they could forget what had happened, or at least have peace with it. But for now only one thing occupied the minds of the four friends. In the last outpost they where, right before moving on into the jungle, somebody had walked up to them with a piece of cloth that looked exactly like a piece of their guild cape. The guy carrying it said that a tall muscular figure had given this to him saying that if he saw four adventures with the same capes as him that he should give him the shard of cape. Off course, as the Charr invasion struck, the people in the Tyria had become poorer by the day, war was thinning the civilians out. So before he wanted to give up the piece of cloth and some additional information they needed to do something for him.

"Why can't those guys just think of something inside an outpost for a change" John muttered when the man was giving them orders and information of how to attain this, possibly, important piece of cloth. "So when we left our house I forgot my alchemist book, without it there will be no way I can make a living" the man, seemingly an alchemist, explained to the four. Phoenix reacted, "and because you're a wimp we have to get this dusty old book for you?" but he didn't wait for a reaction and started to walk towards the gates of this outpost. John followed him immediately, in this jungle danger could be right outside the gates.

Radeon didn't follow immediately, instead he stopped Aeolus from following his two friends, his moa bird was a bit confused as to whether to follow Phoenix and John or stay with his master, in result the bird was pacing back and forth unable to make up his mind. Radeon had stopped Aeolus to ask the directions, they had bought a map of this region some time ago and since Aeolus could get them everywhere, as long as he knew where to end up, Radeon thought it would be wise to let Aeolus take in all the information about the route.

The gates closed behind them, the guards had warned them over and over again that this was a perilous place to wander off. They didn't care, if there was any chance of another survivor from their guild they had to grab it, with both hands. "There is actually another survivor, another friend!" John couldn't keep his excitement in, but his excitement and hopes where soon crushed by his companions, "don't get your hopes up, for all we know it's a dirty trick to try and kill us after all this time" Phoenix said "And to be honest, I don't think death would be all that bad" he added with his normal, emotionless, voice.

The Moa bird looked at Phoenix with big round eyes, probably wondering what he just said, then he looked back to Aeolus. The uneasy silence confused the bird, what had happened, what was going to happen. Again the bird was confused and looked back and forth, from Phoenix to Aeolus. When he looked at Aeolus he opened its beak and let out a cry.

"Don't say things like that mate" Aeolus broke down the doomsday thoughts of Phoenix. "After all these years we're still alive, because we never gave up. I am not about to give up now" with this he looked at Radeon wanting support from him in his statement, "and neither am I" Radeon added to Aeolus is little speech. John just nodded, he didn't speak but everybody knew he was not about to give up. Only Phoenix looked down at the soil really thinking about what the use of all this really was. There was not much time for all the friends, it's not as if they are all immortal. They had to get to this house, because if they would die they would at least have something to tell Grenth, they would've fought, they would've died for a cause.

With a not to bumpy ride getting there they got to the house. It was crawling with spiders and there where storm riders floating around it, "this is going to be fun" John said under his breath, right before he wanted to dash in. "Stop!" they heard somebody shout from not so far away, Aeolus immediately turned to the origin of the sound and aimed his Bow. Somewhere in a past long abandoned, they recognized the voice. "I knew that greedy peasant wouldn't keep his promise" a tall and buff warrior crawled out from the bushes, when he saw the arrow aimed at him he immediately put his hands up, "Not the welcome I suspected!" he let out in a loud whoop of both a bit of shock and humor.

"Angys, Mate!" Radeon said to the tall warrior, "I should've known you survived" he added to his joy, but it wasn't for long, the sounds of their voices had reached the spiders, "Ehm Guys, we might have a little problem" John said holding firmly to his hammer, the spiders came closer and Angys joined John in front of the group, "It feels good not having to avoid them anymore" Angys said, he had only survived through not fighting and avoiding, he had to, he was alone for the past two years.

With screeching sounds the spiders seemed to communicate, and a volley of poisonous projectiles flew their way, Angys blocked most of them with his shield, most aimed at John hit but on his armor, only one seemed to hit the flesh him. Several shots flew past them straight into Phoenix, Aeolus and Radeon. Phoenix, who was floating in mid air already casting a spell ignored the pain and poison and kept casting, Aeolus got hit and immediately grabbed some kind of potion from his bag and drunk some, the poison wore off immediately. Radeon had been hit but the poison didn't seem to penetrate his armor, he looked at a spider and his eyes turned black as he sapped the life from him to patch up his own wounds.

John was still ignoring the poison as he ran into the group with his hammer swinging madly back and forth from left to right, the ones he missed where spiked by Angys his sword. There wasn't much left for the moa but to trample on some spiders that weren't quite dead yet. With a shout Phoenix notified John that he was ready casting his spell and big glowing rocks where coming down from the skies crashing into the spiders and knocking most of them down. John could barely pull Angys out of harms way. They all forgot that Angys never was with their group and didn't know any of the signs or tactics used by the four.

The poison was wearing off but it had taken a reasonable amount of strength from John. And as the meteors stopped falling and Phoenix landed, he didn't have enough strength left to stand on his feet, he collapse heavily breathing trying to get some oxygen in his lungs.

There was no time, a second wave of spiders came running from the house, dashing to the aid of their screaming and burning comrades. This was not good, they had a crippled and wounded warrior and no more caster, Aeolus put away his bow and arrow, he first needed to help his friend. He took out the potion again, meanwhile it was Angys his turn to safe John, another volley of poisonous stings flew their way but now Angys jumped in front of John holding his Shield up high blocking almost all the projectiles that where aimed at them, some missed, some fell short. Before the Spiders could spit a new volley Angys jumped forward sweeping his sword, now John was the one behind finishing off the leftovers, finishing the struggling spiders, bashing the ones that evaded or just didn't die.

They clawed through the spiders as a farmer would do through his crops on harvesting day. Radeon finally came back to his senses, up until now he had only summoned cursed upon the spiders, because a good friend behind him fell to the ground, because he saw the strongest and tallest warrior buckle under the poison, he was confused, but seeing all the dead spiders on the ground he snapped back to his senses. A slight grin covered his mouth as he started summoning from the corpses. Bone horrors sprung from the bodies and immediately leaped into combat as well, because before their souls where lost in the mists there was one more thing they had to do.

Phoenix fully recovered from the poison thanks to Aeolus his antidote, he was furious, "How dare they!" he shouted firing volleys of fire balls, he felt energized, injected with new power. With fireballs flying over their heads Angys and John continued their onslaught through the spiders. They where exhausted when Angys stabbed his sword through the head of the last spider. "That's the last of them" Angys said, they all looked at each other in a split second of silence. "Let's get the book" Aeolus said, not with the intention to bring it back to the man, he had heard that it was an alchemist book, that meant even more knowledge about plants and their healing, and poisoning, powers.

They walked into the house, there where spider webs anywhere, but at least there weren't any spiders left. They walked through what once was the living room, through the kitchen into the study, and library, of the house. There where a lot of books "remember we only need the alchemist book" John said avoiding the prospect of him carrying all those crap books. Aeolus nodded, "Here it is" he said as he walked to the desk and picked it up. "Now we can go back" Phoenix said immediately turning around towards the exit.

Up until now the stormriders had held quiet and on the background, nobody knew their motives but it seemed that the closer the group came the further away they floated. When the five adventurers stepped in the house, however, a second battalion of storm riders came floating, under the command of a bigger and stronger stormrider, if you didn't know better you would think that the storm riders waited for reinforcements, off course they weren't intelligent enough to think of this and it was all a coincidence, or wasn't it? The riders came closer to the house, 27 stormriders not including the biggest and baddest one.

The team followed Phoenix to the door, Aeolus grabbed the book under one arm, and followed behind. But when Aeolus went around the corner he saw Phoenix sprinting back behind his Warrior comrades. "Dammit!" he shouted, "Stormriders, and lots of them!" Aeolus immediately dropped the book on the floor and got out his bow and arrow. Stormriders where a pain in the ass, especially in large groups. Slowly they came floating through the door.

"This is going to be fun" John said. He concentrated for a bit and got his defenses up, at least it would stop the first one or two mesmer spells but after that it was all man to man, no protection just fight until you drop and hope his three friends had learned the monk profession enough to keep him alive. The first stormrider got unlucky, with a sweep from his hammer from left to right he splattered the beast between the hammer and door post, the bones must have been shattered but Radeon could still make a minion out of it. But when it crawled out of the corpse the minion immediately got hit by an unlikely amount of chaos balls. It dropped dead even before it could swing is arm to do some damage.

"This is bad" Radeon said, he got ready to not only defend himself and his friends but also for the run they might had to make. Angys and John did there best to keep the stormriders from flowing in like water that broke through the dam, they swung their weapons, when they came through the door one by one it wasn't at all hard but all of a sudden they came in groups of two, sometimes even three. With the manic swinging of the hammer and the slashing of the blade they killed at least 4 more of the stormriders, but now there where inside the house with to many.

Getting hit Angys flew back, and without his help John couldn't stand for long, they had to step back a few meters to regain control and a steady foot. They fought again but now the riders had the door their numbers where growing faster then they could chop them down, finally the big stormrider came through the door, its purple eyes gazing over his minors onto the adventurers.

For a moment there was a calm and silent atmosphere, it was rudely interrupted by an exploding arrow fired from the bow of Aeolus, it did damage but the arrow alone wasn't enough. After the explosion everybody leaped into battle, it was an ongoing spell casting hell, as John suspected his guard didn't held for long, it reflected the first two mesmer spells but the next came through. Radeon didn't even have time to throw curses on the enemies, he had to use all his time and energy to protect his friends. Phoenix threw fireballs and what not to try and drive the creeps back, again it didn't help much. Although the numbers slunk it seemed that even more Stormriders entered the house. Phoenix shook his head and stopped casting fireballs. "It's no use" he stated and took two large steps back, his eyes narrowed, he got a really evil look on his face, "Keep them back as long as humanly possible" he said as he started mumbling some words they never heard before. Aeolus though it was useless to keep firing his arrows and also put all his energy towards keeping his friends in front alive. "I'll take Angys" he said Radeon just nodded.

Phoenix was floating in mid air and the energy that surrounded him was immense, bigger then they ever felt. He was still saying things they never heard before, he must have never used this spell before. His energy reached its peak, it was so much that if one wouldn't have full control over it could kill them all. "Get back here!" Phoenix shouted with a heavily exhausted voice, it did take him a lot of power to even maintain this amount of energy, now all he had to do is release it in the right direction. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Phoenix shouted again, Aeolus and Radeon took some steps back to end up behind Phoenix and still being able to keep their friends alive. Aeolus saw and felt that Phoenix wasn't going to be able to hold on to this power for long, "Angys, John! get Back here!" Aeolus shouted, John swung one last time with all his power, knocking back some Stormriders giving him time to run off, at the same time Angys let a shock of energy explode a nearby corpse to give himself some time to get back behind Phoenix, when they where all there Radeon looked up to Phoenix, who was still in mid-air, and said "Do your thing" to make sure Phoenix was still aware of what was happening around him.

With a loud shout Phoenix released the energy into something that seemed an enormous fireball, but just before the fire ball hit the group it unfolded into a big burning bird, his wings hitting even the stormriders that weren't in immediate danger got hit by one of the wings. The bird incinerated several stormriders in its path heading for the final kill, the big one, with some kind of high pitched scream the big stormrider fell to the ground. Most of the stormriders where incinerated by the spell, some died because of the extreme heat, others missed half their bodies. The big stormrider was still twitching, trying to gather some strength, at least enough to get away. John got from behind Phoenix and slowly walked up to the, still smoking, stormrider. John smiled down into the big purple eyes, he knew that no matter what creature it was, it would understand. With a shout to gather strength John raised the hammer to above his head, leaving it there for a split second and then crashing it down into the face of the stormrider. With the loud crack of the skull and blood almost exploding from his body the last stormrider died.

John turned around back to the four other guys, he looked Phoenix in the eyes and raised an eyebrow "I never saw you did that bird trick" he said. "I've been saving it for a rainy day" Phoenix said with a twinkle in his eyes and a grin on his face. Aeolus picked up the book from the ground again, "Shall we then?" he said to his friends being happy that they survived yet another fight. Radeon nodded and wiped the sweat of his forehead. "And John, that was a Phoenix, not a bird trick" Phoenix said explaining to him a bit late.

They walked back to the outpost, to bring back the book to the man who had asked it from them, Aeolus was wondering why they couldn't keep it out loud, "I mean come on, he double crossed us!" he said, Phoenix felt something for the plan to keep the book, "it might contain some useful stuff" he explained to John and Radeon, who still thought it was best to give it back. "Yes he did but if we don't give it back to him, we will be just as bad" John defended himself, "I agree, although he might have almost got us killed I don't think we should give in to the temptation to steal this from him." Radeon started "because no matter what the world does to us I think we should keep to our honor" he added tapping the guild emblem of the Locus ut Sileo guild on the golden thing that held his cape together. Now they all looked at Angys, he had been quiet up until now, they needed his vote to break this thing up.

"I think we should stick to our honor" Angys stated, John immediately wanted to take the book from Aeolus and bring it back, "However" Angys interrupted him, "what if we first have a look if there is anything useful in there" he said with a smile on his face "you and I both know that when you leave a book in the wild some pages might disappear, those pages could be useful to us" They all grinned at this remark from Angys, then all of a sudden Aeolus became quiet. "Where is my moa?" he suddenly asked.


	3. Chapter Three: Disappear

**Chapter Three – _"Disappear"_**

"How the hell did we lose the bird!" Aeolus shouted, he was more attached to the bird then he would ever admit, "I mean come on he's as big as all of us!" he paced back and forth trying to remember the last time they saw it. "DAMNIT!" he suddenly burst out.

"Well he was still behind me when we nailed that last pack of spiders, he didn't come into the house" John said thinking back to the fight, which was really quite hard as he was fighting and didn't really have time to baby sit a bird. "Perhaps he ran of when the group of Storm Riders came by"

Angys and Radeon weren't really paying attention to Aeolus and John, they figured that they would either find him back or he'll go in the books as missing in action. "it's a pity though, it was a great help from time to time" Radeon said, Angys just lifted his shoulders, he couldn't know.

Phoenix was leaning against the wall of the outpost, reading through the book, trying to find some useful stuff, he couldn't be bothered. They found a capable warrior and lost a bird, he didn't see where that wasn't a good trade. He closed the book with a slam and stood up "well we certainly ain't gonna find him when we stick around here" and he walked inside the outpost.

"Why the hell is he walking inside, my Moa is here, in the jungle!" Aeolus said, getting more pissed at Phoenix by the second, only did he not care he also clearly showed he didn't. "He better get back here with a good excuse" he said.

Phoenix came back, it only took him a short time to return. He didn't have the book anymore, when the others looked at him questioning, "Useless, except for this" he said waving one piece of paper. One big book and only one useful recipe. "It's to clean and heal wounds very quickly" he said as he knew that they all wanted to know what was on that piece of paper.

The group stood still wondering what to do now, nobody really knew. Aeolus was getting worried, his bird couldn't survive this long on his own. Perhaps he underestimated his bird somewhat, perhaps he was still alive. "Now what are we waiting for?" Aeolus said, he seemed to have calmed down, his voice was back on the normal level.

"Let's Go!" John suddenly said walking off back into the deep forest, he had no clue where to look but at least he was doing something. Everybody followed him after a second of hesitation, wondering what he was thinking and if he knew what he was doing.

It wasn't hard for them to find back the house, all they had to do is follow the trail of destruction they left earlier this day. But the Moa bird was nowhere to be found in or around the house, Aeolus couldn't even find any footprints that where clear enough to follow.

"So this was a total waste of out time" Angys suddenly said leaning up against the house with his shield. Radeon said nothing but nodded, he agreed, this was no use, they had no idea where to look. Phoenix looked up in the sky and then back to the group.

"We might want to hurry, night is falling" Phoenix said wanting to walk back to the outpost, but John stopped him and shook his head, they couldn't leave Aeolus like this. They had stuck together through good and bad the last couple of years, they should help him, no matter what they thought about it.

"I'm not going back until I know what happened to my Moa" Aeolus said firmly, he was not about to give up yet. Something suddenly caught his eye, a feather, one of his Moa's feathers. He looked around it and finally found a useful set of trails, "I found something!" he let out in a more positive shout.

They followed the trail for some time, they had no idea where it was going but they knew it was getting dark and they really had to either find the bird or give up for today. Aeolus looked back into the group "we're not giving up" he stated, he had thought about that as well and figured that if he thought about it the rest would be to.

Suddenly a spider came down from a tree, Aeolus immediately whipped out an arrow and stabbed it right through an eye of the spider, right up to the point where he held the arrow, the spider was instantly dead "I have no time for this" Aeolus said moving on. The rest of the group looked at each other with amazement and shock, they never saw Aeolus like this before.

In the distance they heard all sorts of animals and beasts, spiders, warthogs, more storm riders and the screeching sound of a Moa bird. A Moa bird! Aeolus suddenly took a sprint forward, the others had trouble keeping up with him. There where no wild Moa Birds in this region, it had to be his Moa. The others heard it to, they didn't know much about animals in different regions but as always they trusted their companion.

A small open field revealed the Moa bird fighting off several spiders, it seemed as if he was protecting something or somebody. John knew a good work out when he saw one and dashed forward helping the Moa in his struggle, no matter how strong it was, six spiders might be a bit too much. Angys followed John's example and ran forward with a big smile on his face.

John's hammer splattered the skull of the front Spider, the others seemed to shout in agony for him. At that point Angys spiked another on his sword, for some reason the other spiders seemed to have become smarter, they ran off as they saw Phoenix, Aeolus and Radeon coming from the jungle as well. Aeolus was able to cripple one of the spiders with an arrow. Angys and John looked at each other for a split second and then started running towards the crippled spider.

"Last one there is a rotten egg" John shouted and Angys could only smile. John swung his Hammer forward getting ready for the final blow to the head of this beast. John made it there first but when he wanted to plant his hammer in the face of the spider it buckled under some kind of agony they couldn't describe.

Now they saw what the Moa had tried to protect, a slim woman in a green outfit. She had red hair and dark brown eyes, well at least the Moa still had a good taste for woman. She winked at the two warriors as they looked over their shoulders wondering what the hell happened to the spider.

"Hello lads, thanks for saving me" the girl said with a cheery voice, she ran her right hand through her red hair. "and thank you" she said as she reached out to pet the bird, who clearly had some affection for the woman as he let himself be petted willingly. "if it wasn't for you guys, and this lovely bird" she said still rubbing her hand over the Moa's head "I would be food right now" she finished her sentence.

Aeolus smiled, "you shouldn't give him too much credit, you might spoil him" he said walking closer to his bird and placing his hand on the back of the bird. "so who is this lovely lady you saved" he said to the bird but it was clearly meant as a question for the lady herself.

She stopped petting the bird and put out her hand, Aeolus shook her hand, "I am Mirage, Mirage Artois" she said, she had a sweet voice but it was stern. It sounded charming yet strong, this girl could take care of her self.

"I am Aeolus Epox" Aeolus said then he let go of the hand and started pointing out people, "that dark guy over there is Radeon Kahbouter" he said pointing at the Necromancer, who waved back. "That cranky elementalist over there is Phoenix Deus" he said pointing out the bright red haired man. "The two warriors, the one with the hammer is John Conahan" John raised his hammer in the air with both his hands, "and last but not least, the man in green, that's Angys Loch Nessie"

Mirage nodded and smiled to everybody waving back as they were introduced. "I am a Mesmer, that's why that spider died before you could touch him" she twirled the cane in her hand and smiled to the two surprised warriors, "what did you think that a girl like me couldn't defend herself?" she looked around a bit and rested her sight on Phoenix. "so why are you so cranky?"

Phoenix just raised his shoulders, why the hell did she care? It wasn't really any of her business. "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist" he said, he looked up to the sky again, it was getting dark. "and it's really getting dark now, we should go back to town" he turned around to walk back into the forest.

"Wouldn't it be better to set up camp here rather then walking back into the forest?" Aeolus said, he looked around the group, nobody really felt for staying here, but perhaps they felt even less for going through the forest again.

"What's the matter bird boy, afraid of the dark?" Mirage said teasingly, she then walked to Phoenix, "lead the way mister realist" she said with her cheery voice, a near death experience and she was still cheery, this girl was really something.

They all walked back inside the forest and it took some time before anyone had the guts to ask "So what were you doing here in the middle of nowhere?" John finally asked Mirage. Mirage just smiled at first trying to figure out how to tell them this, perhaps they didn't even really care.

"Well perhaps I didn't want to be saved" Mirage finally said, "perhaps I was glad those spiders came for me" she added making it even more clear. She didn't want to live anymore, and the others didn't know why. But a beautiful girl like her, she must have had one good reason.

Angys just shook his head, "why in Dwayna's name would a cute girl like you want to end her life?" he just asked, he really wanted to know what brought this woman to her decision. But he didn't get the answer so easily, and certainly not the answer he had wanted.

Mirage didn't answer Angys, instead she looked around a bit, "Ever had the feeling that it was all useless, that it didn't really matter what you did at all?" she asked Angys back. Angys just nodded, he had been alone hiding in dark corners for the last two years, he knew how that felt. "when the Charr invaded they destroyed everything, everything I loved was gone" Mirage was starting to unveil why she wanted to be eaten by the spiders "They killed my husband and my two sons, they destroyed my house, my parents are missing" she took a deep breath, it was still tough on her, "For one whole year I told myself that there would be something better after all this. I think tonight I had just given up on that"

The group went silent and kept walking for a while, it was pitch black in the forest and they couldn't see anything that even resembled a path. Aeolus was now walking in front, as he was the better tracker but it didn't really help, even he was blind in this darkness.

Suddenly John spoke up. "I've seen this tree before," he said, pointing at an old looking tree which had the size of a guard tower. Even before anyone could react, Angys added:"...twice..." to John's sentence. They were quite correct, as they had been walking in circles for the past thirty minutes...

"Maybe setting up camp in that open field wasn't all that bad of an idea" Radeon said looking around him to everybody. "I mean I would rather stand watch every now and again then walk the entire night" Angys and John nodded, Aeolus shook his head, not that he didn't agree but out of failure. He felt as if he had failed his friends not getting them back.

"Well unless you know the way back I think we should try to keep moving" Phoenix said to Radeon, "it's not as if we're gonna get somewhere by just standing here watching a tree we already saw twice" he added in a sarcastic tone.

The Moa bird had kept quiet the entire time but now started flapping its wings and generally making noise, he wanted to tell them something but they never understood. They must have figured that out by now as well, perhaps it knew the way.

"well Moa, since I couldn't get us home, I think it's not reasonable to let you have a try" Aeolus said placing his right hand on the Moa's head. He sighed as he realized that the Moa might even have a better chance at bringing them back to the outpost.

Proudly prancing the Moa walked in front of the group leading them to where he thought would be the place they left off. Carefully but surely choosing his path in between the trees, it was dark. All the trees looked the same and the former LuS members didn't know how he pulled it off but they reached the edge of the jungle.

"Well the bird is more useful then you Aeolus, I'm glad we went back to get him" Phoenix said with a sarcastic grin on his face. He didn't really mean it and Aeolus knew that. Just as they wanted to step out of the darkness of the jungle and back into the outpost they saw a group of men. Carrying heavy armor and torches.

"This is not good" Angys said, instinctively wanting to hide, as he had done for so long. They were quite close and could just barely hear some talking in the group, there were man and women of all different kinds of professions. "not good at all" Radeon added to Angys' statement.

"Why do we have to go patrolling in the dark trying to find four guys of the guild we burned down two years ago?" was one of the loudest thing they could hear. Now that this was cleared up, they were being looked for, probably just as much as two years ago.

"What's the matter? Are you afraid of the guards? You aren't some kind of rogue bandit group thing are you?" Mirage asked wondering why they kept standing in the dark in stead of walking to the outpost relieved. She looked around "well can somebody explain please?"

"Well it's… " John was immediately interrupted by Phoenix "A Long story, that's what it is, and it seems that it will be getting a lot longer" he said on a dark and urging tone. "you don't want to know" Angys said placing his hand on her shoulder. He didn't know why he did that but it seemed like the right thing.

"ok… fine… be mysterious" Mirage said, you could clearly hear she wasn't happy with what they told her. She stepped away from under Angys' hand, "but I don't think they have any trouble with me, so thanks guys for saving me" she said and gently pushed aside John and Phoenix, who were in her way out of the forest.

The five friends said nothing, they just saw the girl walk into the light, being examined by the group that was patrolling the outpost. But they let her through, all they could hope is that the patrolling squad wouldn't find out, they had enough guilt feelings already without putting her in even more danger then she put herself in.

Angys was the first one to snap back to his senses again, "well I think it's time to do the thing I am getting pretty good at" he said turning around, the other four looked at each other quite surprised wondering what he could've meant. Angys looked over his shoulder and saw that they weren't coming "Disappear"


	4. Chapter Four: A Lost Friend

**Chapter Four – "A Lost Friend"**

The twigs weren't really a comfortable bed but it did the job for one night. They all took on the duty of guarding each other as usual. But nothing really happened during the night. The squad that was looking for them left without a trace and they were safe to go again. Perhaps they should go back into the outpost and get some food and supplies.

Getting past the guard was easy, just as usual, in these perilous times they almost dragged you inside. All five adventurers were still a bit tired from the night, maybe the twigs were even less comfortable then they thought. Aeolus and John went for food and supplies, Phoenix and Radeon went about looking for easy money, like running some errands or something.

This was all normal day work for them and they had forgotten about Angys, who was just wandering about a bit in the outpost when he heard a familiar voice calling behind him. It was a female's voice, it could be only one though as all the others that once sounded familiar he had forgotten.

"Hey, Angys right?" it was Mirage asking, she was accompanied by a petit little girl in a white outfit, by the looks of her she had been trained in the art of healing by a monk. Angys turned around to the voice of Mirage "Yeah it's him, he saved me together with his friends" the other girl just smiled and nodded. She seemed a bit shy, nothing like Mirage at all.

"Mirage how are you today?" Angys answered in the same joyful tone, although he had nothing to be happy about, this girl stirred something in him, her look alone could make him happy. Mirage just answered with a smile.

John and Aeolus were the first of the group to see Angys was talking to the girl they saved yesterday, they walked up to them and greeted Mirage, who thanked both of them again for their efforts the day before. "I am sure they can help us again, Neveah" she finally said.

Aeolus frowned for a bit and then turned around looking for Radeon and Phoenix, when he found them and gotten their attention he motioned them over. "Well we will see what we can do" Aeolus said, "you could start by introducing yourself" he added reaching out to shake her hand.

The petit girl, referred to as Neveah by Mirage, shook Aeolus his hand "Neveah Ni Epoh" she said with a small smile on her lips as she closed them. "and I might need your help, well actually we both need your help" she said looking at Mirage.

An uncomfortable silence followed "well just standing here doesn't help any of us" Phoenix said sarcastically. It was a bit blunt but every other member of the team kind of agreed, you could see it in their eyes. "So what is it you want?" he added to make it more clear.

Neveah became silent, she really didn't like it when people talked to her like that, "Well we lost somebody, somebody very close to us" Mirage took over, she put her hand in her pocket trying to fish something out. She showed the adventurers some gold coins "We are willing to pay for your service"

Radeon quickly got the gold from her hands and counted it, "well that someone can't be very far away" he said jokingly, it was only 63 gold, and they still had to divide it. "where do we find this special somebody? And who is he?" He asked as he put the gold in his pocket.

Neveah started talking again, she was eased by Kahbouter's tone "his name is Seraph Spellweaver, he was our mentor and became a very close friend" she took a deep breath, "last thing I heard he wanted to go to the Shiverpeaks, to meet the oncoming Ascalon convoy, but the convoy arrived and Seraph never came back"

The five friends looked at each other, they knew they had to at least try and help but they also knew what happened in the Shiverpeaks and how treacherous the lands were. John finally spoke up "We can help you find him" he said it like that on purpose, he hoped that both the girls could help them with their skills they could be useful.

Mirage looked at Neveah and they both knew what they had to do, "Yes we will come with you" Mirage said and turned around, "I'll be right back" she said and walked off to a man they didn't knew. After a short talk she walked back to the group, "Ok, I'm ready" she said looking around awaiting their response.

Radeon and Phoenix both nodded without saying anything, to notify they were ready as well. John lifted his heavy hammer from the ground and rested the wood on his shoulder "ready" he said with a grin. Angys smiled "Aye ready" he said.

Without waiting a second longer Phoenix started walking towards the exit of the outpost they were in. Once outside Aeolus whistled, he couldn't take his Moa bird inside most towns and outposts so he had to leave him outside. The moa came running from the bushes where he was enjoying a tasty meal of whatever moa birds see as a delicates.

Mirage wanted to unfold a map to figure out were they had to go but before she could even figure out where they were at the moment Aeolus said "This way" and started walking in the direction he pointed out. Mirage looked a bit confused, Neveah just lifter her shoulders and followed Aeolus.

They walked for quite some time without much trouble and the soil under their feet became colder and more dead, they were getting closer to the Shiverpeaks and didn't slow down. The two girls, who never actually gotten beyond Lion's Arch on market day, were getting weary but dared not to ask if they could take a short break to catch their breath.

For another 15 minutes they kept their mouths shut but then Neveah couldn't walk another mile, with her short legs she had to walk the fastest, she was exhausted. They had entered the snowy regions of the Shiverpeaks and the path was climbing slightly. "Can we please take a short break" Neveah finally asked before her legs gave up on her and she landed quite hard on a trunk.

Her legs tingled heavily, "Sorry I'm not used to these kind of distances" she said apologizing to the group who now stopped and put their bags on the ground. The moa bird came closer to her and looked at her wondering what she was doing.

"I was wondering how much longer you could keep it up" Angys said, he had noticed that she was having trouble keeping up for quite some time now. He was surprised that she kept walking for another 30 minutes when he thought she would most certainly fall down.

Phoenix managed to set fire to a piece of wood, it was not night yet but in the Shiverpeaks it was always cold. Neveah looked at him thankfully as she warmed herself on the lit twigs. The seven adventurers were enjoying a small meal as they all caught their breath, they were all tired it was only a matter of who admitted first.

For about five minutes it was silent in the group, nothing happened they were just enjoying a meal. Suddenly Aeolus jumped to his legs and grabbed his Bow and arrow. In response John leaped to his Hammer which was on the other side of the campfire. As usually Phoenix stood up silently and easily, no rush at all, he knew there was no need. Angys was leaning against a tree and pulled his sword from the ground. Radeon pulled himself up on the arm of Angys and they all stood in the direction Aeolus was facing.

Neveah and Mirage had no idea what was happening but they knew something was wrong, heavy footsteps shook the ground and the low tone voices of Dwarves were heard. That could only mean one thing, "Stonesummit" Aeolus said, his moa bird looked at him and spread his wings, Stonesummit stirred something in the beast as they fought them before. In stead of working together with animals they enslaved them and used them as war machines.

The army that came over the hill was quite big, two dolyak masters, one Sage, one Gnasher, four warriors tow hammer and two axe, two rangers and finally two Beast masters. This was going to be a tough fight, were they glad Neveah studied the techniques of the monk from the age of five.

Neveah and Mirage now also stood with the five adventurers, "Get ready to kick some ass!" John shouted as the dwarves spotted them. He threw his hammer back dashing for the leading warriors, Angys followed with his shield in front of him and his sword in the sky. The moa bird hesitated a second but finally followed the two warriors into that battle.

Phoenix was already channeling his energy towards forming a fire ball and Aeolus was preparing his arrows by dipping them into some kind of poisonous liquid. Mirage had never really been in a fight like this so she stalled for a moment to look in awe. When she snapped back to her senses she immediately started chanting the words of a Mesmer hex. Radeon was already franticly trying to bee a pain in the ass for the Dolyak masters.

Neveah was getting ready to help those who were in need, she had no eye for the enemies, she was far to anxious to keep an eye on the enemies. Concentrating heavily on the task at hand and preparing some spells by running the words through her head faster and faster until they flowed into each other seamlessly, in her head that was.

John reached the first hammer wielding dwarf, his hammer came crashing down towards the head of his foe but several centimeters before the stone of his hammer head met the helmet that protected his head John his hammer seem to refuse to go on. The dwarf looked at him with an evil grin, "they have an enchantment on them!" he shouted to Angys who just stabbed his blade to meet the axe wielding dwarf his shield.

Strike after strike bounced off the shield, Angys couldn't find any opening in his defenses and he was taking a beating himself trying to keep off the two axe wielders. Out of frustration he shouted, first a meaningless roar but then he shouted "Stop Blocking And Start Bleeding!" as he sliced his sword across for another near miss.

The first arrows and fireballs began to fly over their heads, landing not on the warrior dwarves but on one of the two Dolyak masters, these dwarven riders specialized in the art of healing and were a real bane if it came to killing a lot of dwarves. The curses that Radeon had successfully cast upon the foul beasts seemed to have little to no effect.

Angys his blade kept striking the shields of the two dwarven axe wielders while John had quite a hard time trying to evade the thundering strikes from the hammer warriors and landing some blows himself as well. Up until now the enchantment protecting the warriors held but all of a sudden the hammer came closer to the head of the Dwarf, he looked surprised but not for long as John threw in a second blow shortly after.

The shielding enchantment that held the dwarf safe until now buckled under the pressure of the hammer, with a short shock in mid air the hammer penetrated the shield and landed on the head of the dwarf, immediately shattering his helmet and the skull that it kept safe.

More fire balls and now lighten arrows flew across the battle field, the target, a heavily crippled and cursed Dolyak master. He was about to fall off his ride and he knew it as well. Then he spotted the Necromancer in the back of the group and grinned. His lips could exclaim a holy spell that wasn't meant to aid his allies. A light divine flash headed for Radeon and before he realized what it was it hit him on the middle of the chest.

The holy damage it carried seemed to have done more damage then normal, the dolyak master laughed evilly coughing up blood in the process. Two more burning arrows landed in his chest and there was nothing his healing friend could do but watch him fall off his creature to his death.

Shocking and screaming on the ground Radeon didn't know where to turn for help. Neveah who had been repeating the chants over and over again in her head suddenly blurred out several spells her master had taught her.

With the same blue light that struck him down Radeon felt as if reborn, his strength flowed through his body and he leaped to his feet again to keep on fighting. "Mirage, please keep them from doing that again" Radeon said, he didn't know a lot about Mirage but he did know that mesmers could generally stop most spells from reaching target.

In the meanwhile Angys wanted to strike again with his sword, right before he hit he felt something sting in his chest, it sapped away his strength but disappeared right after he lowered his sword. He lifted his sword again for yet another strike but again he was stopped by the immense pain now traveling throughout his entire body.

Then he suddenly realized what it was that hurt him so badly, he looked at the Stone summit Sage and shouted "Empathy is for sissies!" across the battlefield. Mirage looked surprised and reacted "hey! I use empathy!" on the same volume level. Angys didn't react to that immediately but when he finally got a swing in, regardless of the pain, he whispered to himself "I rest my case"

While the necromancer, elementalist and ranger were still trying to bring the second Dolyak down John finally hit the last Hammer wielding dwarf in his head, breaking his head, skull, neck and almost everything that was connected to that.

Angys finally was able to break through the shield and armor of one of his enemies, to his surprise he didn't hurt himself by doing so, Neveah just finished casting an any hex spell on him. Angys was very open to attack from the second axe warrior and this little maggot saw his chance to cleave Angys on his axe. But when he swung his axe to strike his entire body was in agony. He dropped to his knees wondering what the hell had happened.

For a moment Angys had no idea what happened but then remembered what Mirage said earlier, she uses empathy as well. He smiled as his blade cut right through the exposed throat of the dwarf that fell in front of him. A clean cut immediately killing the dwarf was the result.

The Gnasher and Radeon were franticly casting necromancer spells to exploit the bodies that had fallen. One bone horror was an aid to the four friends another corpse exploded in the face of the Moa bird, the third turned into a unholy shrine of blood giving John and Angys some of their strength back. But the final one turned into another form of Bone minion, made by the Gnasher.

"Damn bone fiends" Radeon said before looking over his shoulder to Neveah, "Take cover" he said knowing that by now they must've gotten the clue that Neveah was there to patch up her friends. The bone fiends normally targeted these healers, as they were called by most.

Neveah was wondering what Radeon was talking about and didn't take cover yet. The bone fiend spat out a projectile towards Neveah, just like Radeon suspected. But the projectile was stopped by the Moa Bird who took a short leap through the air to block it. Weakened by the exploding corpse and now by the projectile and out of reach from the enchanted well of blood.

Aeolus didn't have time to help his wounded friend. He just let a rain of arrows fall over the Dolyak master finish him off just like his friend. And just like his friend he wanted to throw a holy attack on Radeon only Mirage was ready this time and stopped the attack letting it explode in his own face, finishing him off with his own weapon.

The Gnasher, sage and two rangers were on their own. Up until now the two rangers were a bit in the background giving support but after a short nod at each other they concentrated their fire at the moa bird who had just protected the monk. Although the bird had extreme endurance and willpower the fifth arrow that hit him made him fall over onto the ground.

Aeolus was paralyzed, he saw his best friend fall, he saw his best friend die, for about ten seconds he couldn't do anything. Rage filled his body and mind, like a man possessed he started firing arrows back at the two rangers, he wanted them to feel pain, he shot every of their limbs before penetrating their chests with three arrows each.

There was no much the two dwarfs could do but die. Falling over with unheard screams of agony and pain. This time Radeon was on edge, he to had lost a friend in the moa bird. The two fallen rangers changed into Bone horrors immediately making way for the Stone Summit Gnasher, out of respect he didn't extract the Moa bird his lifeless body.

Mirage made sure the enemy necromancer couldn't do anything of that sort either blocking all his attacks and spells, she owed this much to the bird that had risked his life saving her and lost his life saving her lifetime best friend.

John and Angys had no idea what just happened behind them but they had to move on, John killed the Bone fiend with one strike. Reenergized by the well that popped from a dead dwarven warrior the two friends cleaved through the Gnasher simultaneously, the hammer of John took the head clean off while Angys his slash gutted him at the same time.

Angys placed a hand on John's chest, "this one is mine" he whispered as he dashed to the Sage, his sword landed in the neck of the dwarf. He immediately pulled back his sword and stabbed it through his chest only to pull it back in almost the same second and stab the sword through his skull. That sage was a dead man.

The adrenalin in the bodies of the adventurers died off and Aeolus came to the brutal realization what had really happened. His friend, the one and only living being he had ever trusted with no suspicion. He dropped to his knees, trying desperately to keep his tears in.

It was only now that the two warriors saw what had happened behind them and why the two dwarven rangers had died so fast by a volley of anger driven arrows. Aeolus his Moa bird lay on the ground, its lifeless body penetrated by at least six arrows.

John walked towards Aeolus and sat down on one knee in front of him, he placed one hand on the ranger's shoulder "He was a good companion" John said, he knew that nothing he could say would ease the pain at this moment but he felt like he needed to say at least something.

The rest kept quiet, safe one, Neveah burst out in tears. Mirage was puzzled and walked towards her. "Why are you crying?" she asked her friend, but Neveah didn't react she just cried and now kneeled down on the frozen soil.

"I should've saved him" Neveah said in the pauses of her cries, "I should've been able to save him" for some reason she felt guilty, yes she was specialized in healing her allies but she couldn't keep an eye on everybody and everything, she was concentrating to hard on keeping the two warriors and the necromancer alive to be able to heal the Moa Bird as well.

Aeolus instantly rose to his feet "There was nothing you could do Neveah" he said as he walked to the lifeless body of his Moa Bird. He kneeled down next to it. Placing his hand on the blood stained feathers, his hand trembled. "Thanks for what you did, may your soul find rest in the mists" Aeolus spoke before getting up.

Looking out over the steep hills in front of them Aeolus sighed, "we better keep moving, there is possibly an outpost of Stonesummit who just lost a patrol" with this he started walking again. Neveah had sort of regained control over her emotions, she and Mirage followed Aeolus. Angys and John also followed Aeolus.

Phoenix stayed back for about a minute, chanting something in an ancient language only few could understand. A fireball struck the corpse of the Moa setting it on fire, "That's how a funeral should be" he said gazing at the flames. "May the flames consume all your Earthly sins and go in purity"


End file.
